Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Keita Hironaka

Hideaki Deguchi

Yusuke Ozaki

Naoya Kamimura

Motoaki Mushika

Shunji Yoshimoto

Masashi Imai

Hikaru Yoshizumi

Hotaka Kakutani

Masaki Ueji

Yasuo Fukamachi

Hideshi Nishiyama

Keita Shimizu

Masahiro Ishii

Masaaki Furukawa

Kazutoshi Nakamura

Shinya Kusuda

Satoru Suzuki

Kazuma Hinoue

Kengo Yada

Masataka Kamiya

Yutaka Kakigahara

Satoshi Murata

Mayu Wakamatsu

Mariko Mogi

Kouichi Sugimoto

An image forming apparatus includes: a main casing; a photosensitive drum rotatable about an axis extending in a first direction; a developing cartridge; a transfer unit; a solvent cartridge accommodating solvent for dissolving toner; an applicator applying the solvent to the toner on a sheet; and a cover movable between an open position and a closed position. The developing cartridge and the solvent cartridge are detachably attachable to the main casing independently of each other. The developing cartridge and the solvent cartridge are positioned between the applicator and the cover in a second direction crossing the first direction, and the solvent cartridge is positioned closer to the applicator than the developing cartridge is to the applicator in a state where the developing cartridge and the solvent cartridge are attached to the main casing and the cover is at the closed position.

Image forming apparatus to which solvent cartridge that can accommodate therein solvent is detachably attachable independently of developing cartridge

An image forming apparatus includes a controller, a drum cartridge and a toner cartridge. The controller is configured to perform determining a value of a first initial developing bias for a first toner cartridge based on a cumulative number of drum rotations that is stored in a drum memory of the drum cartridge at the time when the cumulative dot count stored in the toner memory of the first toner cartridge is equal to zero. After determining the first initial developing bias, the controller is configured to perform determining a value of a second initial developing bias for a second toner cartridge based on the cumulative number of drum rotations that is stored in the drum memory at the time when the cumulative dot count stored in the toner memory of the second toner cartridge is equal to zero.

Image forming apparatus including drum cartridge having photosensitive drum and toner cartridge having developing roller

An image forming apparatus including an image carrier, a transfer member, an application circuit and a controller configured to acquire a transfer resistance value, the transfer resistance value being a value of electric resistance between the image carrier and the transfer member, determine whether the acquired transfer resistance value is less than or equal to a reference resistance value, and control the application circuit, in response to determining that the acquired transfer resistance value is less than or equal to the reference resistance value, to perform a current control process to cause a value of a transfer current passing through the transfer member becomes a target current value.

Image forming apparatus and transfer power supply controlling method

An image forming apparatus is provided with: a controller capable of changing a developing bias, which is to be applied to a developing roller configured to carry developer thereon; a peripheral speed ratio of a developing roller to a photosensitive member; a control method by the controller, and a program for operating the controller. A configuration is provided where the developing roller makes contact with the photosensitive member when a developing bias is made to be lower during the non-developing than during a developing phase. The configuration can suppress press fogging at room temperature and low humidity conditions.

Image forming apparatus with improved image quality

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive drum; a transfer roller configured to form a nip portion; and a sheet guide that is configured to guide a recording sheet. The sheet guide comprises: a conductor configured to face the recording sheet, and insulating ribs that are arranged corresponding to a printing area of the recording sheet in a width direction and are configured to protrude from the conductor to guide the recording sheet. The conductor comprises: a central portion, and a pair of end portions and are configured to protrude towards the recording sheet from a virtual plane extending from the central portion in the width direction. Protrusion amounts of the end portions with respect to the central portion are smaller than a protrusion amount of each rib from the central portion of the conductor.

Image forming apparatus

A drum cartridge including: a photosensitive drum; and a guide member configured to guide a recording medium towards the photosensitive drum and including, a first guide member having flexibility, extending towards the photosensitive drum, and having a guide surface configured to guide the recording medium, and a second guide member having flexibility, contacting a surface of the first guide member opposite to the guide surface, and supporting the first guide member, the second guide member including, a first part extending towards the photosensitive drum, and a second part bent continuously from a downstream end of the first part in a guide direction and extending towards a transfer position side, wherein, in the guide direction, a downstream end of the first guide member is arranged downstream of the downstream end of the first part.

Drum cartridge

In a transfer device, a flexible guide plate is disposed in a position upstream relative to a transfer position along a medium conveyance path, such that a first side of the guide plate faces to a recording medium being conveyed along the medium conveyance path. The guide plate has a downstream end portion that is angled by bending the guide plate. A support frame supports an upstream end portion of the guide plate and extends in a downstream direction beyond the downstream end portion to form an extension portion which is disposed opposite to a second side of the guide plate and toward which the downstream end portion extends obliquely downstream. The extension portion has a recess/hole formed in a position separated in an upstream direction from a first edge of the extension portion, to allow the downstream end portion to be moved without being blocked by the extension portion.

Transfer device

An image forming apparatus or cartridge is provided that includes an image carrier configured to be rotated while carrying a developer and transfer the developer onto a recording sheet at a transfer position. The image forming apparatus or cartridge may include a separating member disposed downstream from the transfer position in a rotating direction of the image carrier. The separating member may include a contact portion configured to contact the image carrier to separate the recording sheet from the image carrier, and an aperture configured to allow the developer to pass through the separating member from a first side of the separating member to a second side of the separating member opposite the first side, wherein the aperture is positioned farther away from the image carrier than the contact portion.

Image forming apparatus and cartridge

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive member configured to form a developer image thereon; a transfer member configured to transfer the developer image formed on the photosensitive member to a sheet; a conveyance roller configured to convey the sheet toward and between the photosensitive member and the transfer member; and a charge removal member configured to remove charges on the conveyance roller. The conveyance roller is arranged to face a surface of the sheet to which the transfer member faces. The charge removal member is provided at a position at which the charge removal member is not in contact with the conveyance roller, within a range in which charges on the conveyance roller can be discharged toward the charge removal member.

Image forming apparatus and charge eliminating device

In a transfer device, a first side of a flexible guide plate faces to a recording medium being conveyed along a medium conveyance path to guide the recording medium toward an image carrying member. A support frame supports an upstream end portion of the guide plate, and includes an opposite portion disposed from and opposite to a second side (reverse to the first side) of the guide plate and a rib configured to protrude from the opposite portion toward the medium conveyance path. The rib has a first edge which is positioned at an upstream side and beyond which the guide plate protrudes downstream. The rib has an inclined surface extending from the first edge in a direction obliquely downstream toward the image carrying member. The guide plate includes an indentation to allow the guide plate to be deflected without being blocked by the rib.

A recording sheet guide structure configured to guide a recording sheet conveyed between an image carrier and a transfer part, including: a pair of first guide parts including first ridgeline parts which are configured to respectively slidingly contact with a transfer surface side of both end portions of a first recording sheet having a first width; and a pair of second guide parts including second ridgeline parts which are configured to respectively slidingly contact with a transfer surface side of both end portions of a second recording sheet having a second width narrower than the first width, wherein the pair of second guide parts is positioned at an inner side of the pair of first guide parts in a width direction and is arranged at a downstream side than the pair of first guide parts in a conveyance direction of the recording sheet.

Recording sheet guide structure and cartridge

A cartridge and an image forming apparatus including the cartridge are provided. The cartridge includes a casing, an image carrier disposed in the casing and configured to be rotated while carrying a developer and transfer the developer onto a recording sheet at a transfer position, and a separating member disposed in the casing and configured to contact the image carrier at a downstream side of a rotating direction of the image carrier with respect to the transfer position to separate the recording sheet from the image carrier. The separating member has a sheet shape including a first surface opposed to the image carrier and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The second surface is roughened by a roughening processing.

A transfer apparatus includes a transfer roller which transfers developer on an image carrier onto a recording medium conveyed along a conveyance path, a supporting frame which is provided at an upstream of a transferring portion where the image carrier and the transfer roller are closest, in the conveyance path, and is provided at a side of the transfer roller with respect to the conveyance path, a flexible guide member which has a thin plate shape, and is attached to the supporting frame at an upstream of the transferring portion in the conveyance path to guide the record medium to the transferring portion, and a inflexible protrusion supporting member which is provided on the supporting frame between the transferring portion and the guide member in the conveyance path, and which protrudes toward the conveyance path to support a trailing edge of the record medium after passing the guide member.

Transfer apparatus

A transfer apparatus includes a transfer roller which transfers developer on an image carrier onto a conveyed recording medium at a transferring portion, a supporting frame, a flexible guide member attached to the supporting frame to guide the record medium to the transferring portion, and a inflexible protrusion supporting member which is provided on the supporting frame between the transferring portion and the guide member and protrudes to support a trailing edge of the record medium after passing the guide member. The guide member includes a swing portion which is provided at one end side at a downstream thereof. The protrusion supporting member is provided to abut the guide member while the guide member does not protrude from the protrusion supporting member to a side of the transferring portion when the swing portion of the guide member swings by abutting the record medium.

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Obu, Japan

Keita Hironaka